Facts regarding alleged sale of roosevelt hotel

This is to clarify facts regarding a video circulating on the social media, alleging the sale of Roosevelt Hotel, New York City, a property owned by PIA Investment Limited (“PIA-IL”), a subsidiary of Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (“PIAC”).

The privatisation process for Roosevelt Hotel has not been initiated yet. The Privatisation Commission (“PC”) has not even started the process for hiring a Financial Advisor / Valuator for the privatisation of Roosevelt Hotel, which is the first step under the law for initiation of any transaction by PC.

Whenever PC initiates the said hiring process, advertisements seeking expressions of interest for Financial Advisory / Valuator services are widely published by PC, both in the domestic and international press, as per the legal requirements. Even after a Financial Advisor / Valuator has been appointed, various steps in the privatisation process need to be completed before concluding the privatisation / sale of any entity. These steps, which require the approval of the PC Board and the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (“CCoP”), include but are not limited to finalizing the transaction structure, publishing advertisement seeking Expressions of Interest from Investors, finalizing the valuation and reference price, and finalizing the bidding process and results. None of these actions have so far been initiated with respect to Roosevelt Hotel, nor is there any plan to do so at present.

Therefore, any allegations stating that Roosevelt Hotel has been sold are falsely fabricated. It is also important to note and understand that no single person can make the decision to sell or decide the price of any entity being privatised, given the broad-based decision-making process, which includes engagement and consultation with many forums at each and every stage of a privatisation transaction.

PC fully understands and appreciates the importance of transparency and integrity in the privatisation process, and always endeavors to ensure the same. PC welcomes any dialogue or query related to its work. PC strongly believes that the people of Pakistan deserve to be presented only with factually correct and unbiased information